A Hole that Still Bleeds
by Waternymph95
Summary: Fred's death left a hole in this world. In another world she may be the key to filling one. When Thorin saves a wild human woman he doesn't realize what else he found. Will he still head down the path to self destruction, or will he change? Angel and Wesley should have known, nothing can destroy a soul. Takes place after "A Hole in the World." and starts in the first Hobbit movie.
1. Prologue

Author's Note: I don't own anything from The Hobbit or Angel, all rights go to their respective owners. This is a crossover with The Hobbit and Angel. It starts mid-way through the fifth season of Angel and the first movie of the Hobbit trilogy. I've played around with a Hobbit crossover for several months and finally fleshed out this idea. Reviews and comments are welcome. I hope you enjoy.

"-Is there anything in this world but grief?-

-There's love. There's hope… for some.

There's hope that you'll find something worthy…

that your life will lead you to some joy…

that after everything… you can still be surprised.-

-Is that enough? Is that enough to live on?"

Angel, "Shells"

Prologue: A Hole in the World

Another wave of pain wracked the small woman's body. Her naturally pale skin now looked like a thin sheet of ice covering her bones. "Would you have loved me?" She asked the man on the bed next to her.

He gathered her up into his arms, somehow knowing that these were the final moments, the last moments he would ever get to speak with her. "I've loved you since I've known you. No, that's not… I think maybe even before."

The woman coughed harshly, and when she spoke again, it was with great effort. "I'm so sorry." She couldn't help the whimper as she felt something vital break inside her failing body.

"Shhh, no, no, no." The man caressed her hair, her face, trying to soothe her.

She struggled in his arms, both from the pain and from trying to sit up. "I need you to talk to my parents." She pleaded with him, grabbing hunks of his shirt with her weak hands. "The…they need to know that I wasn't scared, th…that it was quick." Her vision suddenly went dark, her scientific mind told her that this was her brain shutting down. And it was her scientific mind that told her there was nothing she could do about it. "Oh God!"

"You have to fight." He called to her from what seemed like a great distance.

_But I don't know how. _

"Just concentrate on fighting. Just hold on!" She could tell he was yelling, though his voice was getting dimmer and dimmer.

_Wesley, help me._ "I'm not scared. I'm not scared. I'm not scared." She didn't know how much of what she thought she actually said. "Wesley, please! Why… can't… I… stay?"

For a moment she a blessedly numb.

Then someone poured lava into her already burning insides. The claws of some great animal where ripping her to shreds. In the dark a voice echoed in what remained of her consciousness, more animal than human, more demon than earthly. Its words shrieked in her ears, commanding her. "Get out!"

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Nothing was left of the woman in the shell. She was gone from the world that had been her home. But Angel and Wesley had been wrong about one thing, a soul can never be destroyed.

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In a faraway land, a land no one on Earth had a name for, the ground rumbled. Streaks of electricity flashed. They could almost be mistaken for lightning, except for that they were in a cave, far from the sky.

Then out of the light, unseen by all, a tiny form dropped to the cold floor of the cave.

Fred shakily raised her head, and through bleary eyes she took in her surroundings. "Oh God, no."


	2. Chapter 1

Author's note: I don't own The Hobbit or Angel. I love to hear and reviews, comments, suggestions, or questions you have.

Chapter One: Home is Behind

-Two Years Later-

A company of thirteen rode down a well beaten path. They were twelve dwarves and one wizard strong. Some were old, a few were young. Some had seen battle, some hadn't, but they all probably would by the end. Their leader was a dark haired brooding dwarf. He had seen too much bad in life to engage in the childish antics of his younger nephews. His mind lay on the tasks ahead. Erebor, the dragon, his homeland….

"Wait! Wait!" A voice called out from the path behind the company. "I signed it!" The hobbit shouted, handing the large scroll of paper to the eldest dwarf in their group, Balin.

Thorin watched this exchange with a sort of dreaded amusement. He had to give credit to the hobbit for having the courage to leave his home, he just wished Gandalf had found a buglar who was a little more, well more. The poor hobbit had probably never held a sword before in his life.

"Everything seems to be in order." The elderly dwarf announced. "Welcome to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield Master Baggins. " Balin smile down at the hobbit.

"Give him a pony." Thorin ordered, turning his own pony around and continuing on the path.

Bilbo visibly palled at the prospect of riding a horse. "Oh no that won't be necessary. I can probably keep up on foot." But even as he spoke he was being passed by. "I've done my fair share of walking holidays. Even got as far as Frognortin once… whoa!" He cried out when Thorin's nephews, Fili and Kili hoisted him up and sat him firmly on the back of a pony.

They laughed at his disgruntled expression. Then the hobbit's face scrunched up and he sneezed. "Oh it's this horse hair." He explained, rooting around in his pockets. His eyes widened when he didn't find what he was looking for. "Hold up wait, stop! We have to turn around!" He shouted.

Thorin looked back in exasperation. Not even five minutes in and already the hobbit wanted to go back.

"Whatever is the matter, Bilbo?" Gandalf asked.

"I forgot my handkerchief." Bilbo said, clearly upset.

"Here. Use this." Bofur ripped a piece of his dirty trousers off and tossed it at the hobbit.

Bilbo caught the bit of fabric. He sniffed it and his nose turned up in disgust.

Gandalf laughed at his reaction. "My dear Bilbo, there is a great many thing you will have to do without before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills of the shire. But home is now behind you, the world is ahead."

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"We'll make camp here for the night. Get a fire going." Thorin ordered. He dismounted his pony and tied it to a fallen tree. He had chosen a spot in a clearing, big enough for all of them but small enough to be easily defended if need be. To their front was the road, to their backs was the sharp rock edge of a large rocky hill, and either side was a thin forest.

It wasn't quite evening, but the light would start to fade soon. It was never wise to travel in the dark, for who knew what you could come across. There had been tales of orc raiding parties that troubled Thorin.

The other dwarfs broke off into groups to talk amongst themselves. As usual his two nephews had hunkered down together, they were ever hardly apart. The halfling and the wizard also sat together. Everyone was speaking with someone else, everyone but Thorin. Such was his lot in this group. He was their leader, charged with keeping them all alive, and his took that duty very seriously.

He took a seat on a rotting tree stump and rolled out the map Gandalf had given him the night before onto his lap. No matter how long he stared at the letters and symbols, it just didn't make sense to him. Thorin lifted the map closer to his face, willing the paper to reveal its secrets to him. But the map was stubbornly silent.

Suddenly the hobbit's voice broke his concentration. "Did you hear that?"

"You're probably just hearing things lad." Dwalin saved Thorin from having to answer Bilbo.

A few minutes passed before the hobbit raised his head again and looked around the clearing. "There it is again."

"And what is it that you think you are hearing Master Baggins?" Thorin deep bombing voice called across the camp, silencing all other conversations.

"Hobbits have very keen hearing." Gandalf spoke up. "It would be wise to trust to listen to him." He nodded to Bilbo.

"It sounds like screaming." Bilbo said.

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The woman had told herself that she would only leave her cave for a few minutes, just long enough to gather berries for a meal. She knew there were bad things outside her cave, but hunger trumped her fear.

In another life she fought the things that she had feared. But she was all alone now, and she didn't have the courage left. Much of her past life had become muddled into a jumble of memories. Part of her remembered that something like this had happened before. A memory of her huddled in a cave with her scribbling on the walls was never too far from her mind. She feared the possible madness she was slipping into.

But running through the forest for her life was all she cared about at the moment. The foul creature came upon her shortly after she left her cave. The monster had sickly hued grey skin and its sharp shark like teeth became visible when it smile at her terror. It pulled out a wicked looking blade and licked its lips in anticipation of the fun it would have with its new plaything.

The orc had thought this would be an easy kill, but it had underestimated how fast its prey could run.

The woman weaved in and out of the trees, dodging low hanging branches. She didn't realize it at the time, but her terrified screams ripped their way out of her throat, echoing throughout the forest.

She could hear her purser getting closer. When she looked behind her, her foot caught on a rock. She was sent sprawling to the ground, her head collided with a tree root and a fresh wave of pain exploded across her forehead.

The woman rolled onto her back just in time to see the hideous orc about to bring its dirty blade down on her. She threw up her arms and closed her eyes and waited to the blow to come. And waited. And waited.

The sound of muffled thuds and grunts had her opening her eyes again. What she saw shocked her. A dark haired man was paring blades with the orc. The man had gotten in at least a dozen hits before the orc had any time to go on the defensive. Before she or the orc knew what happened the orc's head tumbled from its shoulders and onto the ground.

The man took a few deep breaths before he turned to face her. He wasn't very tall, just a little taller than her, but what he lacked in height he well made up for in muscle. She watched as his blue eyes took in her appearance, and for the first time since she arrived in this strange place, she realized how she must look.

Tangled brown hair tied back with a fraying ribbon and the tattered remains of the maroon shirt and skirt she had been wearing when…. her mind shut up, refusing to go back to painful memories.

When she snapped out of her revere she noticed that the man's mouth was moving, apparently he had been speaking to her for several moments and she had just been sitting there staring into space.

It had been so long since she had seen, much less spoken to another being that she couldn't make out what he was saying. Slowly his words coalesced into a something she could understand. "Are you alright?"

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Thorin had followed the screams that had now become audible to the whole company. Without waiting for the others, he ran off into the woods, quickly losing them. He didn't have to search long before he found a lone orc scout about to make sport of some innocent. He thought's flashed back to a similar scene, where a pale orc stood over his fallen grandfather, beating him until there was no life left in him.

In a rage he tore into the orc. It wasn't long before his sword found the orc's neck, and sliced through it. Behind him he heard the gasping breaths of the orc's victim. He took a deep breath before he turned to look at the person he had just saved.

When he did turn he was shocked to find a young human woman staring up at him. But it wasn't with terror that she looked at him with. Surely based on what he just did to the orc, any sane person would be afraid, but not this woman. Her doe brown eyes only looked at him with curiosity.

After his initial shock wore off he took in the rest of her appearance. She was so thin that one could only thing think that she hadn't eaten a decent meal in months. Her clothes were in tatters and she trembled like a leaf, like she was torn between staying and bolting. Everything about her screamed weak and fragile.

Thorin had never tolerated weakness in himself nor those under his command, ever. So he was surprised when he was overcome with the need to protect this woman.

"Are you unharmed?" Thorin asked her, but he got no response. The woman only continued to stare up at him. "Do you understand me? Are you alright?" He slowly held his hand out to her.

Recognition finally dawned across her face, and she nodded. She took his hand and he lifted her to her feet. The fact that it took no effort to lift her up was alarming.

She shook her head to clear it and looked up at him. Her eyes clouded over for a moment, like she was seeing something else beyond what was happening now. Then she gazed up at him with a bright smile while pressing her hand to a bruise on her temple. "Handsome man saves me from the monsters." Her voice was light and sweet.

Her words left Thorin speechless. In the few minutes since he had met her he could already tell that there was an innocence to her that he hadn't come across in many years.

Suddenly there was loud crashing from the woods behind the where the two of them stood as the rest of his company finally caught up with Thorin.

The woman's gaze flicked to the dozen new arrivals, then back to her savior. "Bye!" She said cheerily before taking off at a full sprint away from Thorin and up the rocky hill.

Author's Note: Review if you liked.


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